Kerry rejects congressional subpoena over Benghazi

Despite being subpoenaed by Congress to testify on the 2012 Benghazi attack later this month, US Secretary of State John Kerry will not appear before the House of Representatives’ oversight committee as demanded.

The announcement was made Monday by State Department spokeswoman
Marie Harf, who stated that instead of going before Congress n
May 21, Kerry will instead continue with his initial plans to
travel to Mexico. Although the Telegraph reports that Harf called
the subpoena “a waste of time and taxpayer dollars,” she
suggested the department would work something out with the House.

“We are committed to working with the committee to find a
resolution to this that is acceptable to both sides. We were
surprised when they didn’t reach out to us before issuing a
subpoena for exactly that reason,” she said, according to
CBS News. “And as I’ve noted here, there have been a number
of Republicans who themselves, under the previous administration,
said a secretary of state should not be subpoenaed.”

Last week, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) – the oversight
committee’s chairman – issued the subpoena for Kerry after
alleging documents related to the Benghazi attack were “hidden”
from Congress by the White House even after lawmakers subpoenaed
documents on the situation. One email in particular – written by
deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes to then-United
Nations ambassador Susan Rice – was not released to the public
until the watchdog group Judicial Watch filed a Freedom of
Information Act request.

Within the email, Rhodes told Rice that when she appeared on
television, she should “underscore that these protests are
rooted in an internet video, and not a broader failure of
policy."

When it was first reported that an attack on the American
diplomatic mission in Benghazi had left four people dead,
including a US ambassador, the White House claimed the violence
was a consequence of regional protests related to an offensive
YouTube video. Later, however, it acknowledged the attack was
premeditated.

As RT reported previously, the release of the
Rhodes email caught the attention of Republicans such as Sen.
Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who claimed it was a “smoking gun” that
shows the White House was trying to portray a situation “at odds
with the facts.” The White House and other Democrats deny the
allegation, saying Republicans have been trying to politicize the
tragedy since it happened.

Following the email’s public release, Issa wrote a letter to
Kerry demanding he appear in front of Congress to answer
questions.

"The State Department's response to the congressional
investigation of the Benghazi attack has shown a disturbing
disregard for the Department's legal obligations to
Congress," he wrote.

"Compliance with a subpoena for documents is not a game.
Because your Department is failing to meet its legal obligations,
I am issuing a new subpoena to compel you to appear before the
Committee to answer questions about your agency's response to the
congressional investigation of the Benghazi attack."

Meanwhile, Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio) announced
that he’s moving to create a special committee charged with
investigation the response to the attack, but it is unclear
whether Democrats will participate or decide to boycott the
entire operation. According to CBS, House Rep. Steny Hoyer
(D-Md.) said there have already been enough inquiries – 50
briefings, 13 public hearings, and 25,000 documents have been
handed over.

“There was nothing the military could have done in the
time-frame available,” he said on Monday.

The committee will be led by Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), who said
questions about Benghazi remain without answers.

“Twenty months after the Benghazi attacks, there remain
unresolved questions about why the security was inadequate, our
response during the siege itself, and our government’s
interaction with the public after the attack,” Gowdy said in
a statement. “All of those lines of inquiry are legitimate
and should be apolitical. Facts are neither red nor blue.”